my house

It's spring. We live in a new house that was finished in winter.  That means we are surrounded right now by mud and sand.  Lots of sand.  The bonus is my girls think it's a beach. There is also a man made trench/pond/creek-type thing at the back of the yard.  So the girls took out their beach toys and will play in the sand for hours.  They get water from the creek for making sand castles.  Okay, they jump in the water sometimes.

We do a lot of laundry.
It's messy.
It's really messy.

But I cannot communicate clearly or often enough how thankful I am.

When we were first married, we used to dream about this house.  Something back in the woods, a manageable size, economical and easy to heat.  Built with our hands. Space for the girls to explore, learn and observe. Space to grow food... the kind that walk around and the kind that we plant.

And we are doing it.

Our first order of baby chicks will be here soon.
We watch a ruffed grouse out the living room window early each morning.
We look around at where the sun hits the ground and think about where my vegetable garden should go.

I am living my dream.
Don't get me wrong - it's hard. We have to wait for the time and money to be available before starting a project. In the midst of this, my girls have been sniffing the clean air a bit too much and have decided to test every single rule I put before them. Long days have been my portion. But I love my kids. And I love that we get to do life in this house.

Every day, I wake up and look straight out our sliding glass doors. Across the messy, unlandscaped yard to a beautiful sunrise. And with that new day, comes new grace. He never runs out. How I got so blessed to live this life, I don't know. But I am going to love every minute.